At a recent extraordinary meeting of the FNAM National Council in Coimbra, the president of the organization voiced strong criticism of the current Ministry of Health, alleging it is orchestrating “a dismantling of the National Health Service (SNS) rather than a reorganization.”
She highlighted an example involving the closure of maternity wards due to a shortage of doctors, which she claims “forces pregnant women to travel tens of kilometers or give birth in ambulances, an occurrence that has already happened.”
Joana Bordalo e Sá noted that challenges are not limited to maternal and child healthcare: “We still have an increasing number of patients without a family doctor, growing surgical waiting lists, patients dependent on phone lines, an unresolved INEM crisis regarding accountability, and resignations within health unit administrations.”
In addition to criticizing Ana Paula Martins’ leadership, the FNAM president emphasized the need to develop strategies to retain doctors, arguing that “the current Ministry of Health has failed to secure any effective agreements to retain medical professionals.”
She believes this can be achieved through “valued careers, dignified working conditions, and fair salaries, encouraging doctors to remain within the SNS.”
Bordalo e Sá also conveyed a message to the next government: “FNAM has the solutions, regardless of who wins the elections. Our primary aim is to negotiate.”
“The SNS cannot be governed through political appointments and temporary fixes. We cannot continue to patch holes where there is no foundation,” she asserted.
